Russell Brand granted bail on rape and sexual assault charges
Published in News & Features
Actor and comedian Russell Brand was granted bail on Friday during a court appearance in London on charges of rape and multiple counts of sexual assault.
Sporting a pair of dark sunglasses and dark denim, Brand spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth before leaving the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the British capital, according to multiple reports.
Brand will next appear at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, on May 30.
The 50-year-old funny man last month was hit with six charges, including one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault. They stem from from alleged incidents involving four different women that occurred over a span of six years, including a rape in Bournemouth in 1999, an incidental assault in Westminster, London in 2001, an oral rape and sexual assault in Westminster in 2004 and another sexual assault between 2004 and 2005, also in Westminster, according to authorities.
The charges are the result of an 18-month investigation, prompted by a series of allegations brought against the podcaster by multiple women in the fall of 2023. Around the same time, The Sunday Times, The Times of London and the TV network Channel 4 published a joint report in which several women accused Brand of sexual assault and rape between 2006 and 2013. The alleged assaults occurred at the peak of his fame, which included his marriage to Katy Perry.
One of the women in the report claimed she was just 16 years old when a 30-something Brand started an “emotionally and sexually abusive” relationship with her. Another said he raped her in his Los Angeles home in 2012, while a third women claimed he forced himself on her a year later at his residence in West Hollywood. Additional allegations include that Brand exposed himself to a woman in an office building and then joked about the incident on his radio show.
The comedian, meanwhile, has adamantly denied the accusations, calling them “hurtful” in a video shared online. He acknowledged that while he has a “promiscuous” past, all of his sexual encounters have been consensual.
“I was always transparent about [being promiscuous] then — almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now,” Brand added. “To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny.”
Brand has not been charged in the U.S. for any of the alleged assaults said to have occurred in California.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
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